Finally Caved and Made Cake Ball Thingies

A few weeks ago, Little Guy  got a monkey on his back. We were at the farmer's market, taking in the sights of all of the healthy fresh produced heaped high on all of the vendors' tables. He's point to something and I'd tell him what it was. Sometimes, he was asked to help me pick out which bunch of carrots or basket of apples we should get. At one point, he ran ahead of me as I was paying for eggs. I caught up with him to find him chewing on something. Oh no! What is he eating and how much do I owe?

There were two very sweet-looking ladies behind the table he had stopped in front of. One spoke up, "Oh, it's OK. He's just tasting a sample of our cake balls." As he finished his mouthful, he went in for seconds. The other "sweet" lady took the plate from the table and told him that his Mommy would have to buy some cake balls for him if he wanted more. You can imagine the carnage that came after I found that one dozen quarter-size cake balls would set me back FOUR DOLLARS! I just don't have that kind of money, not even for a splurge. We left with me hauling two very heavy bags of produce on one shoulder and a kicking and screaming 30 lb. kid under one arm. (I did hear someone mention how mean it was of those ladies to do that to me and Little Guy. Yeah!)

Well, he's been talking about those things ever since that day. Often, upon waking up in the morning, presumably from a dream, demanding I give him the cake balls that he knows I have hidden somewhere in the kitchen. When I tell him (repeatedly) that there are none, we end up in the middle of a first-thing-in-the-morning, before mommy has her coffee, full-on tantrum. So I decided that since hubby's birthday was on Monday and we needed to make a cake anyway, I'd so a single layer for him and we'd use the other layer to try our hand at making these cake thingies.

I checked out a few posts from other bloggers to see how the whole process worked. I basically found the following: 1) They're super-easy to make. 2) You basically crumble the cake, mix with frosting, roll into balls, then dip them into melted baking chips. EASY!!! I figured there must be a catch. I asked on my Facebook page for tips from those who
've already done these things and Lisa, Baking Momma of Two, was the only one to speak up. She directed me to a post she had written when she decided to make (really cute) Spring Chick Cake Pops. The basic directions on her post were the same as I wrote above. But she also described some of the problems she encountered and how she got around it (or would now that she knows better.) Things like the dipped cake balls looking pretty ugly (a second coat fixes this!) You don't want to buy the "super moist" cake mix (this tip had me over-bake the cake a little to get rid of the extra moisture.) She mentioned how messy making the cake into crumbs was, so I was able to elicit the help of Little Guy (payment came in the form of not complaining when he to big bites out of the cake!) Oh - here's a good one that I'd probably have tried if she hadn't done so first: Don't attempt to use plastic candy molds to make shaped cake. Don't try to get too fancy with the decorating - it's harder than you think. Apparently, you need to work fast to get all of the decorations on before the melted baking chips harden. (Lisa made her own mini baking chips in the colors she needed! I'd have probably left the chicks beak-less!) And, finally, it take a LOT of time to make these things. That is one that I just didn't believe enough - I put the finishing touches on mine at 10:20pm - three hours after I started dipping them into melted chocolate. This does not account for the time spent making the cake, making crumbs & icing, and rolling it into balls.

So, here's my journey in pictures. I really love how they turned out. These won't be made on a regular basis (cupcakes are SO MUCH EASIER!), but they're great for special occasions. Oh, and the $4 price tag was nuts - even with the time I put in on these, there's no way that each one is worth $0.33 each!

Making Crumbs

Over-baked Cake

Naked Balls (!)

Helping Clean the Icing Bowl

UGLY! I began to despair at this moment. It was my first layer.

Looking better after the butterscotch layer went on!

Yes! The dark chocolate covered up all of the mistakes!

We used leftover melted chips to decorate Hubby's cake. (Like my last-minute candle fix?!)

Little Guy knows that, now that we've sung "Happy Birthday", he can sample some cake balls!!!

Have you made these things? How did they turn out? Have any tips to add for next time? Little Guy's birthday is just 2 weeks away and I'm going to make more, so any help would be welcome!

The NCLB & Peer Pressure

As most of you know, my oldest started high school this year. He also joined the cross country team. Because we don't have a car and the park where they train is over 3 miles away, he's been grabbing a ride home with a few of the kids who live near us. Now, when my son started "real" school, he was placed one grade above the grade his age group of lids was in - meaning that he's now 13 years old and attending high school (I am SO GLAD I didn't go with the testing recommendation to jump him TWO years ahead!) What this means is that he's often riding home with 18-year-olds.

Now, I've met most of the members of the cross country team and they're pretty good kids. Most of them are getting good grades, they take care of their bodies, and they're generally pretty moral group. So, when my son came home with his news last night, I was shocked at first. "Mom, I got some peer pressure for the first time today." Oh no! Drugs? Sex? WHAT?! Have I mentioned that my oldest ALWAYS picks the worst possible moment for these kind of talks? I have a hungry, tired little guy screaming about how the color of his crayon isn't the right green (he's got a giant shoe box of crayons - geez!) I'm trying to cook dinner. The phone is ringing. And my lovely husband, who stubbed his toe TWO WEEKS AGO is limping around the house and actually whining (can you say "attention-seeking"?)

I turn off the stove, let the answering machine get the phone call, and direct my husband to gimp into the living room and pull all of the green crayons from the box for little guy - hey, he was just in the way and this way he will have someone to whine at who might listen to his tale of woe*.OK, full attention on the teen... "So, what's up?" He looks at me very seriously. I can tell this is going to be one of those times when I have to keep my head on straight and really think about my next move. The look on his face scared me to death!

"You know the kid I usually ride home with, John?" Yeah... "Well, see there was this assembly at school on Monday." Um, okay... "Well, I know you said I couldn't do it, so I stayed in the library, but John went and..." Wait. What assembly did I say you couldn't go to? "You know, that letter you wrote to the school?"

Aha!

 That letter I wrote was back on the first day of school. You know how they come home with a stack of paper a mile high for parents to sign. They're usually permission to watch films, or pieces of paper promising not to sue if my child becomes lost on a field trip... In little, tiny lettering on the back and in the middle of a list of typical attendance rules that most people give a quick scan and then toss on a pile of papers to look at later, I noticed this:

"The No Child Left Behind Act... requires schools to permit military recruiters to obtain students' contact information and other access to the student, if the school provides that information to universities or employers, unless the students opt out of giving military recruiters access."

 So, I got out my pen and basically write that I do NOT give permission to the school to release my son's information to military recruiters, nor do I give the school permission to send him to a school assembly or any other function where he will be in contact with recruiters. This may seem a little harsh, but 1) I don't want my kid being sent to fight a war over some stupid commodity so the rich can get richer and 2) I've heard how these guys work, at least around here.

A mom I know called me last year about this time, steaming mad. She had just received a letter from the Army letting her know that her 14 year-old pledged to enter the military right after he graduated. She was freaking out! She asked her kid why he would do something like that. Know why? The recruiter were giving out really cool dog tags to everyone who signed up for "more information". Everyone was getting these things and he wanted t have them, too. Plus, he might win a brand new PS3!!! But from the letter my friend had in her hand, it sounded as if there's be a van at their front door the day after graduation to pick the kid up for boot camp. So, you see why it is so important to me that MY kid not be exposed to all of these "promises" of winning cool prizes, seeing the world, and getting a free ride through college.

It turns out that there had been some talk among the kids about the military and getting some cool stuff for signing up for "more information". My son's ride home had thought it over and decided he wanted to go over and sign up and asked my son if he wanted to, also. At first, my son laughed it off. But, when he realized that this boy was serious, he started feeling the pressure. "Why not? Don't you care about our country?" and all of that kind of stuff got thrown at him. My son took the one out I've always told him works: "My mom would kill me!" It worked. This kid understood the pissed-off mom excuse.

So, we've had our first "peer pressure" incident and he came out unscathed. I explained to him why I didn't want him signing anythingI hated the idea. BUT, I wanted him to see what the other kids were doing. It would have been unfair of me to keep him from that just because of my opinions of schools. Turns out it was a good decision for him - he's the type of learner who does well in a classroom. If he wanted to join the military, I'd only want to make sure he knew ALL of the facts and had a good personal reason for wanting to do so. (I can't promise I wouldn't try to talk him out of it, though!)

*Look, the guy has been seen running to catch one of his friends who was pulling out of the parking lot. His toe doesn't hurt that badly. He just realized he was getting to lay around and watch TV and take naps whenever he wanted while I took care of everything else.)

"...Because I Was BORED."

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About a year ago, I bought my oldest son a new pair of winter boots. They were expensive but, since he walks nearly a mile each way between school and home, I figured he needed the good ones. A week after I got these boots, he came home from school and I noticed that the water-proof rubber in the toes of the boots had disappeared, leaving only cloth. I asked my son what had happened, anger boiling up inside me at the company for making crappy boots and charging me an arm and a leg for them. My dear, sweet boy looked up at me with his big hazel eyes and said, "I peeled it off in Algebra class today." Yeah, my next question was inevitable: "WHY?!" With the same adorable face, he tells me, "Because I was bored." And that was just the tip of the iceberg. "Because I was bored" was only just beginning. It's in full swing now.

New "Teen Attitude" face. (Isn't it cute?!)

"Why did I just see you throw your empty yogurt container on the ground, a mere 10 feet away from the trash can?"
"Because I was bored."

"Why did you, a 13 year-old, take a toddler's Matchbox car away from him and cause this tantrum of epic proportions when there are 100 more of the damned cars laying right there?!" (Yelling at the top of my lungs over a 2 year old's scrams and howls.)
"Because I was bored."

"I saw you walking home from school today. You were walking down the middle of the street. It's a busy street! Why didn't you use the sidewalk?"
"Because I was..."

Well, you get the idea. This is the new answer to everything. I don't remember using a phrase like that to get to my parents' last nerve. I remember "Talk to the hand, " and "Whatever..." (I think that one's still around, though fading fast.) I was so glad that I didn't have a teenager around back then! Now that I think about it, though, I'm wondering if I wouldn't rather hear one of those.

I've been trying to get that phrase out of my son's vocabulary, at least while he's around me, to no avail. Every time I hear "because I was bored," I find something new and non-boring for him to do. Things like cleaning every scrap of trash from our yard and the park, too. And playing with his little brother for two hours while I clean the kitchen and make dinner. After the walking in the street incident, either I or my husband walked him to and from school for two weeks. We made sure to wear the most embarrassing outfits, too! And finally, he wore those boots until he grew out of them. The kid is STILL telling me he did it because he was bored!

This kid doesn't get a chance to be bored around me anymore. I've found chores for him to do when he's acting bored (you know, the huge sigh and staring at the wall when you walk past their room?) He's slowly finding things to do - he'd rather read than shovel snow! But he's still coming back at me with that answer whenever he gets caught doing something that he knows he's not allowed or supposed to be doing. Is this a new thing in our community, or are other parents experiencing this, too? If you are going through it, what are you doing about it?